(CNN) — The White House approved a Pentagon plan for the nearly 2,000 U.S. troops in Poland to help Americans who may try to evacuate Ukraine if Russia invades, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
U.S. forces are currently not allowed to enter Ukraine if a war breaks out, and there are no plans for them to execute a non-combatant evacuation operation similar to the one in Afghanistan last summer, officials emphasized.
Instead, the plan as it stands now is that soldiers, who are from the 82nd Airborne Division, will begin to establish processing areas and temporary shelters within Poland, near the Ukrainian border, where Americans fleeing Ukraine could go for help during transit. The facilities have not yet been implemented, a defense official said, but they will begin to do so as more U.S. troops arrive in Poland.
The daily The Wall Street Journal he reported for the first time that the White House had approved the Pentagon’s plan.
Pentagon press Secretary John Kirby told reporters earlier this month that soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division were sent to Poland primarily because”they are capable of carrying out multiple missions.”
“They can do a lot of things,” Kirby said, when asked if they would help with a possible evacuation. “It’s a very versatile force. And I think their versatility, their ability to move quickly and perform a variety of missions in a variety of contingencies –which is proven– are the reasons the secretary has ordered them to go.”
When asked about planning, a White House official told CNN that ” these are multi-mission forces, trained and equipped for a variety of missions to deter aggression and provide reassurance to NATO allies.
We are constantly assessing the evolving security situation and planning for a variety of contingencies as we always do. But, to be clear, we are not planning a mass evacuation of American citizens from Ukraine. President Biden has made it clear that we believe Americans in Ukraine would do well to leave” that country.
The White House official also referred to comments by White House press Secretary Jen Psaki late last month when asked under what circumstances the U.S. would evacuate U.S. citizens and diplomats from Ukraine, and whether it could be done without the U.S. military.
“There is no intention for there to be an exit or an evacuation,” using the army, Psaki said. “So we are conveying to American citizens that they must leave now. There is no precedent, beyond Afghanistan, for such operations.”
The State Department announced late last month that it would reduce the staff of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, starting with the departure of non-essential staff and family members. It also issued the highest-level travel advisory for Ukraine, telling Americans not to travel to the country and to be alert to reports that Russia is planning significant military action.
State Department officials have repeatedly urged Americans to leave the country now, warning that US government aid would be “severely affected” if Russian military action occurs in the country.
Russia’s military concentration continues. In the past 24 hours, Moscow has added approximately 2,000 combat forces to border areas near Ukraine, according to an administration official. The current assessment is that more will be added in the coming days, according to intelligence reports.
The United States estimates that Russia has more than 100,000 forces near the border with Ukraine. It consists of approximately 100 tactical battalion groups (BTG) with more on the way. A Russian BTG is a formation that can include between 800 and 1,000 soldiers. But US officials have long said that it is unclear to what extent the Russians are staffing all these units.
There are currently no signs of the Russian military withdrawing, the official said.
— CNN’s Oren Liebermann contributed to this report.